Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Checklists for Novels - Part 3 of 3 - Scenes, Dialogue, Complexity, and Character

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Halfway through the week, we are. Wow, the volume of that cheer blew my hair back. Guess you're all looking forward to the three day weekend, huh? Well, I hope you all have a novel you're editing right now and can print these little checklists and make good use of them with your *ahem* time off. Today, you get checklists for scenes, dialogue, complexity (in one), and character (there are three of these). At the end, you'll find a link to a PDF you can download, print, keep, and share! All I ask is that you don't alter it in any way. Thanks! Let's get going!

Scenes

Do your scenes ebb and flow well?

Are the four basic happenings taking place?

Action - This is the objective of the scene.

Reaction - What the emotional state of the protagonist is.

More Action - What they do about it.

Deepening - This happens only in the most dramatic scenes.

Do you have a great hook, intensity, and a good setup for the next scene?

Complexity

What value are you supplying to your reader (values can be life lessons or new opinions)?

Is there a sub-plot that could be added that would give your protagonist (or antagonist) more depth?

How will any sub-plots assist you in changing the values of your character?

Dialogue

Have you used a lot of he said, she said?

Can you turn any of the dialogue tags into action tags?

Are you using the proper dialect?

Contractions. Do you use them?

Characters (this is broken out in the checklists)

Full Name - First, middle, and last along with any other names they've had along the way.

Location - Where they live, where they were born, if different, why it changed.